


The Trouble with 48 Hours

by animehead



Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: M/M, Slash, Strippers & Strip Clubs, solo masturbation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-04-29
Updated: 2012-06-15
Packaged: 2017-11-04 13:07:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/394216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animehead/pseuds/animehead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kotetsu understands the fact that he has loss a large percentage of his powers. What he cannot understand, is why doing THAT particular think every 48 hours makes his powers return to normal. And why does Bunny's help just further complicate things?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

_This cannot be said for everyone, but_ most _people have a voice of reason. One’s voice of reason could be loud, soft, or somewhere in between. Usually the volume of one’s voice of reason depends solely on the owner of said voice. One must also take into account that even if one’s voice of reason is robust, it does not guarantee the owner will actually give heed to its warnings._

Mere feet outside the entrance door, the thought occurred to Kotetsu T. Kaburagi that going into a gentleman’s club was probably a bad idea. _He_ had suggested that he and Antonio stick to tradition and have a drink at the Hero’s Bar. Surely, people would be offended upon seeing two well-respected heroes drinking alcohol while scantily clad women danced around them. Wild Tiger and Rock Bison were role models. They had reputations to keep and those reputations did not involve pelting women with dollar bills.

But Antonio was unyielding. It was _his_ birthday and _he_ wanted to get a lap dance courtesy of a beautiful woman who “shook her ass for money.” In his defense, Antonio was already pretty buzzed. He’d had a lot of ups and downs this year and he just wanted to let loose for a while. He and Kotetsu could let the others handle any crimes that may arise. Sky High, Blue Rose, and the others could handle any type of crime that involved the aid of the First League heroes and a monkey riding a tricycle could handle Second Leagues’ job assignments (of course Antonio kept this thought to himself—no need to piss Tiger off since he would eventually be the one buying the drinks).

“Let’s go, Tiger.” Antonio’s voice boomed from behind his friend. He slung a heavy arm over Kotetsu’s shoulder and forced him through the open door of Wyatt’s Gentleman’s Club.

Immediately, Kotetsu came to the conclusion that Wyatt (whoever he was) was a pervert in every sense of the word. Never stepping foot inside of a “gentleman’s club,” Kotetsu hadn’t really been sure of what to expect. He figured there would be a bar, a few chairs, a couple of tables, lots of booze, and maybe a few half naked women, and for the most part he’d been right—all except the half-naked women.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Some of the women were half naked, but _most_ of them were without a doubt, completely and unbelievably _naked_.

And they were everywhere.

“Eh, I don’t know about this Rock Bison. I feel a bit… overdressed,” Kotetsu half-joked to keep his mind off of the scenery inside the club. He cupped his hand over his eyes as if shielding away the sun. “Anyway, it’s so loud in here. If Kaede calls me I won’t even be able to hear the phone ring.”

Antonio snorted and began to walk toward a table with two empty seats. His arm was still draped across Kotetsu’s shoulder, which meant that Kotetsu had no choice but to follow. Well, Kotetsu could try to pull away, but the other man probably wouldn’t be very successful.

“Kaede has better things to do than to call an old man on a Saturday night.” Antonio stopped at the table and shoved Kotetsu into a chair. “And you need this just about as much as I do.”

“And what exactly would _this_ be?” Kotetsu asked as Antonio flopped down into the chair opposite his comrade. “The only thing I need is— Gah!” Amber eyes widened when he caught sight of the stage just in time to see a woman bending over and spreading… _things_. He quickly covered his eyes with his hands and shook his head.

This was so wrong. Had these women no respect for themselves? How were any of them going to find honest and respectful husbands if they went around showing their lady parts to every horny man who gave them money? And what would their parents think about their beautiful daughters doing this type of thing? Why didn’t the government shut this place down? It couldn’t be legal. _Nothing_ about any of this could be legal.

“Aww, first time, honey?” a sultry voice said right next to his ear.

Kotetsu jerked his hand away from his eyes and came face to face with long pale legs and black lace panties. A strangled noise came from his mouth and he turned his head away, opting to stare at the wall. He made a noise that sounded more like a sob than a laugh and shook his head. “Huh? What makes you say that?”

“Don’t mind him?” Kotetsu heard Antonio say. “He’s not used to this type of thing.”

“And you are?” the woman asked.

Kotetsu still refused to look over at the woman so he missed the wide eyed expression she made when Antonio waved a large stack of money in his hand.

“Would it be okay if I sat down with you for a while, Mr. Rock Bison?” the woman asked. “I’m Candy.”

“Be my guest,” Antonio answered. “And no need to be so formal. Rock is just fine.”

The woman slid past Kotetsu and settled into Antonio’s lap. “Mm, that he is.”

Kotetus wanted to scream. This was ridiculous! The woman’s name clearly wasn’t Candy. Who named that daughter Candy, honestly? And even if it was, why would a woman like Candy be okay with spending time with a man who was wearing a helmet with horns on it? And what the hell was wrong with Bison? _Rock is just fine_? What kind of cheap pick up line was that? Why was Kotetsu even here?

Kotetsu rubbed at the thumping pain above his eyebrows and felt the material of his mask slide across his fingertips. He felt a serious headache coming on and it was all Antonio’s fault. Still keeping his gaze away from his best friend—no, his _ex_ -best friend now—Kotetsu did his best to discreetly watch several nude women crowd around some unknown person. He caught flashes of red and white each time one woman moved to make room for another one. He held back a whimper when curvy hips and an equally curvy backside swayed side to side to the music, which allowed him to see a head full of blond hair.

God, what was he doing being in a place like this? This was a mistake. A mistake. A mistake. A mis—

Curvy backside shifted a little and Kotetsu was able to make out the rim of a pair of familiar looking glasses. Wait a minute.

Was that… Barnaby?

Laughter erupted from both Antonio and the woman sitting on his lap. Kotetsu shot a glare in their direction and then turned his attention back to the harem surrounding the person who Kotetsu had the sneaking suspicion was his partner.

“Oh, Barnaby! You’re my favorite hero!”

“No, you’re my favorite hero!”

“I love your hair! Can I touch it?”

“I want to touch it, too!”

“You’re so nice to work with an old man like Wild Tiger. Too bad he couldn’t come with you. I bet he’s at home sleeping.”

A chorus of laughter came from the women and Kotetsu wasn’t sure what to think. He wanted to be annoyed that these young women thought he wasn’t young or cool enough to stay up late, but at the same time he wondered what the hell Barnaby was doing at this type of place.

“Oh, but that’s not true,” Kotetsu heard one of the women say. “I saw Wild Tiger a few minutes ago. He came in with Rock Bison.”

At that Kotetsu’s eyes widened. Oh, no! He was caught! Barnaby would ask him so many questions. He would tease Kotetsu for coming to a strip club. He needed to make an escape without being spotted by anyone. “I’ll be right back,” he said to Antonio who wasn’t paying the slightest bit of attention to him.

Kotetsu stood from his seat and kept his back to the crowd around Barnaby. He wasn’t too far away from the door. If he could just slide between the rows of tables and chairs he could be out in seconds flat.

He managed one step before a familiar voice caught him by surprise.

“Kotetsu, what are you doing here?”

Very loud and equally false laughter exploded from Kotetsu’s mouth. He cursed Rock Bison and everything that the other man stood for. He and his stupid helmet were currently getting felt up by some half-dressed woman while Kotetsu had the duty of explaining to his partner why they were both there. For one fleeting moment, Kotetsu considered throwing his hat in Barnaby’s face and running off.

Instead the older man rubbed the back of his neck and plastered his face with a sheepish grin. “Huh? B-Bunny? What are you doing here?”

“Don’t answer a question with another question, old man,” Barnaby replied. “Why are you here?”

“Who me? Eh, I’m just here to celebrate Rock Bison’s birthday.” Kotetsu extended his arm and pointed over in Antonio’s direction. “See.”

Barnaby glanced over at Rock Bison and smirked. “He seems to be celebrating just fine without you.”

“Barnaby,” a lusty voice said. It came from one of the many women who’d thrown themselves at Barnaby earlier. Kotetsu would have bet money that it was the one with the perfect ass. “You said you would let me dance for you.”

“I want to dance for you, too, Barnaby,” another woman exclaimed.

Kotetsu snickered and slowly began to creep away. “You better get back to your beautiful fans, Bunny. I don’t want them attacking me because I kept you away for too long.”

“You could join us,” Barnaby suggested.

“Eh? Nah, I’m getting kind of sleepy. I’ll probably just head home. Catch up on my beauty sleep. An old man like me needs a lot of it.”

Barnaby glanced down at his cell phone and smirked. “Mm, I suppose ten minutes before ten is rather late for someone like you.”

Kotetsu glared at his young partner and folded his arms across his chest. “Someone like me? What’s that supposed to mean? I keep up with you all the time.”

Barnaby adjusted his glasses as if he had already grown bored with the conversation. “I barely exert half of my energy when I’m dealing with you and you still end up panting and clutching at your heart every five minutes.”

“Hey! That’s a lie!”

“Barnaby,” a chorus of women cried and did their best to grab the hero’s attention.

“I’m going back. Go get some rest, old man.” Barnaby teased and turned away from Kotetsu and began making his way back to his adoring fans.

“Who are you calling an old man?” Kotetsu practically screamed and stomped behind Barnaby. “I can hang with someone like you any day.” He flopped into an empty, nearly knocking a nude woman off the armrest. He looked up at her and grinned, which only earned him a glare for his troubles.

Barnaby took a seat next to him and was immediately greeted by two women settling down onto his lap. Kotetsu scoffed and looked around for a waitress. If he was going to pretend to be one of the cool kids, he might as well have a drink or two… or _six_.

* * *

Coming to a gentleman’s club was definitely a mistake, Kotetsu decided as he downed his final drink of the night. This place was for people with plenty of money and absolutely no morals.

And Barnaby fit into that category quite well.

Kotetsu didn’t even bother trying to pretend as though he wasn’t watching women bounce up on down on Barnaby’s lap. He didn’t care to hide the fact that he watched each and every time Barnaby grabbed either side of slim hips and jerked his own hips against the woman on top of him. It was obscene, offensive, and downright perverted.

It was also pretty damn hot.

Kotetsu had noticed Barnaby’s long, pretty, eyelashes over two years ago. But when had Barnaby’s lips become so soft and plump looking. Had his eyes always been so vibrant and green? How could Kotetsu not have noticed how fair Barnaby’s skin was or how his hair looked like golden silk and smelled like strawberries?

“Mm, that feels nice.” someone purred into Kotetsu’s ear.

Shifting his head toward the direction of that voice, he was somewhat surprised to see a woman currently straddling his lap. “Mm?” he murmured. “What feels nice?”

“This.” The woman, a pale skinned lady with dark brown eyes, rubbed her palm back and forth against the bulge in Kotetsu’s pants that he hadn’t realized he had. The woman was beautiful, but he had no interest in her. Hell, he hadn’t even noticed she was on his lap until a few seconds ago, so why was he aroused? Could it have been…

…Barnaby?

No, of course not. That was ridiculous. Kotetsu wasn’t attracted to Barnaby. Barnaby was a kid, and his partner, and a _man_.

Kotetsu shook his head and pulled the woman’s hand away. “You shouldn’t do things like that,” he said, half slurring as he spoke. “You should save those types of gestures for the person you love, not an old man like me.”

Kotetsu stood up, which successfully forced the woman to climb onto her feet. He couldn’t take another moment of this. He needed to get out into the fresh air and clear his head. The alcohol he’d drank was clearly messing with his thought process. “I’m leaving,” he announced to anyone who was sober enough to listen.

As Kotetsu made his way to the exit doors, he wasn’t at all surprised that no one had called for him to come back. Antonio and the woman in the lace panties had disappeared into a back area of the club and Barnaby was preoccupied with his harem. It was easy enough to hail a cab in Sternbild so late in the evening and after a short ride, Kotetsu made his way into his apartment.

His apartment was a mess as usual. He definitely needed to do some cleaning and reorganizing before Kaede arrived during the following weekend. He didn’t need his daughter discovering how much of a filthy slob he could be. Not to mention the quantity of various wine and liquor bottles that were quickly becoming a part of the décor would probably upset her.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Kotetsu flopped down onto his couch and shook his head. It did nothing to help the fog in his brain, but he pretended as though it had. As hard as he tried, he still couldn’t shake the image of Barnaby grinding that stripper down against his lap.

Leaning back into the couch, Kotetsu slowly let his hand glide down his abdomen. He raised his hips enough to unfasten the button on his slacks and groaned softly when his hand slid inside the opening. He tried to focus on how beautiful the women had been at the club, but his mind kept drifting back to Barnaby and the stripper. Kotetsu panted softly while his fingers caressed his rigid cock, stroking firmly, massaging the tension of a long day and an even longer week to the point where his feet curled inside his shoes.

How long had it been since he’d done this? Six months? Eight? A year? He couldn’t even remember. When his powers began to decrease, Kotetsu had lost all interest in physical pleasure. Even before then, he couldn’t bring himself to masturbate on regular basis. It felt dirty, wrong, and like Tomoe was watching him. When Tomoe died, all his sexual desires died with her. To be so turned on after what seemed like an eternity of celibacy was something he couldn’t fully understand.

But damn if it didn’t feel good.

The gingerly stroking Kotetsu had started with was now replaced with brisk pumps. The sound of the occasional car passing by outside was drowned out by his moans. After being so far, so _far_ away from this type of pleasure, he was so incredibly _close_ now. His eyes were already shut, but he squeezed them tighter. He searched his memories as best as he could for images of Tomoe sprawled out in front of him, but found that Barnaby and the damn stripper were still in the forefront.

Kotetsu pumped his fist even harder, fighting the images of Barnaby and the stripper, but was only half successful. The stripper was no longer there, but Barnaby still was. Still fair skinned, and plump lipped, and green eyes, and silky hair.

“Damn it,” Kotetsu cried out softly. He couldn’t stop now. A few minutes ago, a few seconds ago, he could have, but now? Impossible. “Tomoe,” he whimpered. He called out for her, but her image wouldn’t appear. Kotetsu could swear that he was dead and stricken with rigor mortis with the way his muscles stiffened. He dug his free hand into the couch, fingers gripping at the cushions as his hips rose from his seat. “Tomoe,” he called out to her again. If he could just picture her, if he could just see her beautiful face or her lovely body. He called to her, begged her to make an appearance, to replace the blond hair and green eyes currently consuming his thoughts.

When the death grip he had on the couch cushion did nothing to help him picture images of his deceased wife, Kotetsu flung his arm across his face and over his eyes. Tomoe, Tomoe, Tomoe, he mentally chanted—still reaching out to her. Still hoping to make what he was doing _okay_.

But she didn’t appear and his time was up.

“Tomoe, Tomoe, Tomoe… Bunny!” It was the last name he spoke before the ounce of restraint he had shattered into microscopic shards. A flood of what could only be described as superhuman pleasure washed over him. He didn’t care that the sticky mess that shot from his cock had splattered onto the floor. Nor did he care how it spilled down his hands, between his fingers, and onto his pants. All that mattered was that after a long time, a _very_ long time of feeling restless and numb, he felt really, really, good.

And calm.

And relaxed.

And _sated_.

Unfortunately, for Kotetsu, those feelings didn’t last as long as he hoped they would. Apparently, masturbating to thoughts of one’s partner’s did wonders for sobering a guy up. He could pretend as though he hadn’t done it. He could wash his hands, take a shower, wipe the cum from his floor, even cover the spot on the floor with some type of cool rug, but that spot would always mock him. _He_ would always know the truth. It would be like some sort of warped, twisted, retelling of the _Tell-Tale Heart_ only with lusty homoerotic thoughts and semen.

The worst part of it all was that Tomoe had watched. He could now _miraculously_ picture her perched up on a cloud watching as he committed the ultimate sin. Then again, Kotetsu wondered if there was a Heaven and a God, why he or she would want to take his wife away from him and zap away most of his powers. If this God punished him for doing nothing, Kotetsu couldn’t imagine what type of torture he was in for now.

And how was he going to ever look at Barnaby the same way again?

No, no. This was a fluke. Just some drunken lusty one-time thing he’d done because his mind had went berserk from seeing so many nude women at one time. That was all. He wasn’t attracted to any man and even if was attracted to men—which he wasn’t—none of the men would be Barnaby. Kotetsu wasn’t even attracted to blonds.

Okay, so it was settled. He wasn’t attracted to men (not that there was anything wrong with that) and the only reason that any of this happened was because he’d had too much to drink and had spent time with Barnaby that night. Maybe one of the strippers had slipped him something. All the same, he was fine. Everything was fine. And when he went into work tomorrow and saw Barnaby everything would be fine.

Kotetsu ignored the mess he’d made and stretched out on the couch. He was exhausted now and just wanted a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow he would have a clear mind and would be able to face whatever life threw at him. He shut his eyes and relaxed even more into the cushions. Just as he was seconds away from drifting off to sleep, his wrist communicator began to beep.

Kotetsu groaned and sat up. Why were they contacting him? He was certain the Second League could handle whatever petty crime currently taking place. He snatched off the communicator and shoved it under a cushion. He would hear it from Agnes in the morning, but who cared? No one respected the Second League heroes anyway.

Kotetsu attempted once again to fall asleep only to be interrupted by Barnaby’s voice.

“Boku wa Banii ja nai! Barnaby desu!” Yeah, Kotetsu was pretty sure that using an audio recording of Barnaby stating that his name was Barnaby not Bunny as a text message alert was a really stupid idea.

Kotetsu slid his phone out of his pocket and read the Barnaby’s text.

_**Emergency at HQ. It’s a NEXT.** _

_**First and Second League needed. Where are you?** _

Kotetsu sighed. It seemed God or whoever was up there (or not) was already starting on his punishment. He definitely wasn’t in the mood to be dealing with a NEXT, but what choice did he have? He was a hero first and a man with too many problems second.

With another sigh, Kotetsu stood up. He would get to headquarters and help to bring down the NEXT as quickly as possible. Hopefully things would go over smoothly and they would be too busy for him to have to interact with Barnaby. But he was pretty sure that was wishful thinking. Barnaby was his partner after all. Damn.

Why in the hell wasn’t there a Good Luck Mode on life?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As good of friends as Kotetsu is with Ben, talking to him about certain things is still a bit... uncomfortable.

Maybe it was some type of fluke. Kotetsu knew his powers only lasted for one minute. Hell, all of Sternbild knew his powers only lasted for one minute. The problem was that he’d activated his Hundred Power over three minutes ago and it had yet to fade.

The trouble at Apollon hadn’t been as bad as he was expecting and he and Barnaby had taken care of the NEXT criminal just like old times. When reporters began running toward where he and Barnaby stood, Kotetsu expected them to begin asking Barnaby all types of questions: _When was he coming back to first league? Did he feel satisfied working second league because of his partner’s failing powers? Was there a love interest in his life?_ What Kotetsu hadn’t expected was the mountain of questions aimed at him: _Since when had his powers returned? Was he coming back to first league? How did he feel about making Sternbild’s list of Most Eligible Bachelors?_ He hadn’t even known about that last one.

Eligible bachelor, huh? Kotetsu probably would have grinned if he hadn’t been so confused about _how_ or _why_ his powers had suddenly returned.

Kotetsu hadn’t been able to answer a single question since he had no idea of the answers himself. Why _did_ his powers suddenly start working properly again? Did this mean they were about to fizzle out for good? The idea saddened Kotetsu, but he supposed there wasn’t anything he could do about it. The most he could do was ask Ben about it.

It took Kotetsu several minutes to realize that the reporters were still asking him questions while he was staring off into a daze. Luckily, for him, Barnaby had come to rescue and brought the attention to himself—as usual. It was perfect as it gave Kotetsu the chance to sneak off away from all the commotion.

He was grateful for the adrenaline that he felt when he and Barnaby were working to take down the NEXT who had threatened to blow up the Apollon building. Kotetsu hadn’t known what to expect when he arrived and that was enough to keep his mind off of what he’d done while thinking of his partner. But Kotetsu knew eventually he would have to face Barnaby while they weren’t wearing their hero suits or stopping mediocre NEXT criminals.

With his powers finally running out at the five minute mark, Kotetsu quickly found Saito, got out of his hero suit, and left the scene much more quickly than he’d arrived. He thought about going home and just sleeping, but he worried that those thoughts would make another appearance and he didn’t want to do _that_ again.

His cell phone rang and Kotetsu automatically tensed. He was actually afraid to look down at it to see who was calling. He hoped it was anyone but Barnaby. Closing his eyes for a brief second before opening them, Kotetsu pulled the phone out of his pocket and let out a sigh of relief.  It was Ben. Ben he could handle. In fact, Ben might even know what the hell was going on with him and his wonky powers. 

Kotetsu put the phone up to his ear, but was unable to even greet Ben before the other man started talking.

“I was watching the show. How long have you—”

“I don’t know,” Kotetsu answered. “It just… happened.”

“Have you been feeling any differently? Notice any changes?”

Other than the fact that he had masturbated to thoughts of his younger male partner? “No, I feel fine.” Kotetsu opened his mouth, shut it, opened it again, and then sighed. “Ben, do you think… Do you think they’re going for good this time?”

Ben sighed as well. “I don’t know. I’ve never heard of powers fading and then returning. It just doesn’t make sense.” But Ben was going to get to the bottom of it. “Head over to my office. We’ll talk more about it.”

“Will do. See you soon.” Kotetsu ended the call and sighed. At least going to see Ben would take his mind off of Barnaby.

Kotetsu frowned when his phone began to ring again. He pressed the button to answer the call a mere second before looking down to see who was calling.

_Barnaby._

“Uh… Hey, Bunny,” he greeted as cheerfully as he could. “I was pretty cool out there tonight, huh?”

Barnaby ignored Kotetsu’s question and got straight down to business. “When did your powers start working again? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Calm down, Bunny,” Kotetsu replied. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t _know_. Suddenly they were just… _back_. I’m about to see Ben now to see if we can figure out what’s going on.”

“Then I’ll come with you. I’ll meet you—”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Go home and get some rest. I’ll call you in the morning.”

Barnaby grew quite for a moment and then sighed. “Kotetsu, I thought we…”

Kotetsu could tell where Barnaby thoughts were going before the younger man could even finish his sentence. “I promise I won’t keep anything from you. I just want to talk to Ben alone first. If there’s something… something _bad_ about to happen, I won’t to take the news alone first, but I promise, I’ll tell you whatever we find out, okay?”

“Okay, I trust you, Kotetsu. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Kotetsu lets out a relieved breath after Barnaby hangs up. Knowing that Barnaby trusted him so much, made him feel even worse about what he’d did. But he decided that he wouldn’t focus on that. Right now he had more important things to figure out, like why his powers were back to their full capacity and what it meant for him.

***

Kotetsu shifted uncomfortably under Ben’s intense gaze. They’d been at this for the past hour and Kotetsu was starting to think that maybe he should just say it and be done with it.

“Okay, “Ben said. “Again, tell me everything you did today.”

“Again?” Kotetsu asked. “I’ve told you like ten times already.”

“You’re always forgetting things,” Ben replied. He taps an ink pen against his notepad and frowns. “I figure if I ask you enough times, you’ll remember something that you might be leaving out.”

Kotetsu already knows what it is that he’s leaving out. But he can’t tell Ben that he did _that_ before using his powers. It’s much too embarrassing and _private_. “For the hundredth time,” Kotetsu began, “I woke up, had breakfast, went to work, did a bunch of paperwork, had lunch with Bunny, took Rock Bison out for his birthday, came home…” Kotetsu couldn’t stop the nervous blush that appeared whenever he thought about what he did after he came home. “Then I got the call to come to Apollon and that’s it.”

“How long were you home before you got the call?” Ben asked.

Kotetsu’s eyes widened before he lowered his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “I… Uh… um… Maybe thirty minutes. It didn’t take long.” After years of not even touching himself because he felt like it was somehow betraying Tomoe, he wasn’t surprised that it had only taken him a couple of minutes.

“What didn’t take long?”

“The call!” Kotetsu said louder than necessary. “The call to come in didn’t take very long.”

Rubbing his temples with his thumb and middle finger, Ben frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense. What would the call have to do with—”

“Okay!” Kotetsu honestly can’t take anymore. He knows sooner or later, it’ll somehow slip out when he starts to get too tired to focus on the conversation. “After I got home, I did… _things_.”

“Things?” Ben repeated. “What kind of things?”

Kotetsu blushed and shrugged his shoulders. He supposed it could be worse. Ben has never judged him for any of his many flaws. Hopefully, he won’t judge him for this one. “You know,” he mutters. “… _Things_.”  He holds his hand in the air and then looks down and then _points_ downward.

Ben is still confused. His brown eyes are narrowed as he tries to figure out just what the hell Kotetsu is talking about. Things? What things? What does the ground have to do with these things? But it didn’t really look like Kotetsu was pointing at the ground. It sort of looked like he was pointing at his stomach, or maybe his… Oh. Oh. _Ohhh_. _Those_ type of things.

“Ah,” Ben said for lack of having anything else to say to that. He nodded his head and cleared his throat. “And how long has it been since you’ve done that?”

“What?!” Kotetsu shouts. He’s already humiliated by admitting to it. Now Ben expected him to talk about the frequency of it? No way!

“Stop being a baby and answer the question.”

Kotetsu sighed in defeat. He really just wanted to go home, he wanted to pretend this day has never happened, and he certainly does not wanted to _not_ talk about _masturbating_ with Ben.  “Since Tomoe died,” he answered quietly.

Ben wasn’t surprised to hear that. More than anything, Ben understood how hard Kotetsu had taken Tomoe’s death. He nodded his head and jotted something down in his notebook. “Well, at least now we have a place to start.”

And Kotetsu has never been more terrified in his life.


End file.
